Wednesday, 8 July 2009

Israel forces Palestinian citizen to demolish his home in O. Jerusalem


Israel forces Palestinian citizen to demolish his home in O. Jerusalem

[ 08/07/2009 - 10:53 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Palestinian sources in the occupied city of Jerusalem reported that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) coerced a Palestinian citizen on Wednesday into demolishing part of his home located in Beit Hanina neighborhood at the pretext of unlicensed construction.

Owner of the house Fayez Al-Totenji said if he had not complied with the demolition orders, the IOA would have imposed on him a heavy fine.

He added that he submitted a request to the IOA-controlled municipality in Jerusalem to get a permission to expand his small house, but he did not receive any response.

In a new development, the Hebrew radio reported Wednesday that the US tends to give the Israeli government the green light to complete the construction of 2,500 housing units in West Bank settlement outposts.

The radio noted that the US conditioned its approval to the construction of these units on Israel’s declaration of temporarily freezing of construction of settlements and providing facilities to the Palestinians.

In another context, the Israeli occupation forces kidnapped 13 Palestinian citizens from different West Bank areas during raids that started Tuesday evening and ended on Wednesday morning. The abductees were reportedly taken to interrogation centers.

A general strike started Wednesday throughout the city of Umm Al-Faham and the surrounding towns in the area of Wadi Ara in protest at the Israeli decision to demolish 40 Palestinian homes in the area.

Public and commercial institutions participated in the strike which was called by the heads of local authorities in the 1948 occupied lands.

The IOA started this morning to demolish three buildings in the town of Maaouya adjacent to Umm Al-Faham city at the pretext of unlicensed construction.

Similar demolitions took place on the commercial street and in other areas in Umm Al-Fahm with the aim of preventing the Palestinian constructional expansion in Wadi Ara.

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